The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a magnetic-tape cassette comprising a rectangular housing having an upper wall, a lower wall and four side walls, at least one of said side walls having at least one access opening, and a shutter for closing the access opening, which shutter is movable between a closed position and an open position, which apparatus comprises a chassis, a cassette holder supported on the chassis and adapted to receive a cassette, and an actuating device adapted to move the shutter of the cassette held by the cassette holder, which actuating device comprises a supporting member, at least partly covering the upper wall of the cassette, and an actuating member which projects from the supporting member and which is engageable with the shutter of the cassette, which actuating member controls the movement of the shutter during a relative movement between said actuating member and the shutter.
Such an apparatus of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example, from EP 0,434,143 A2. In this known apparatus the actuating member for controlling the process of opening and closing the shutter has been provided on the cassette holder, the actuating device being movably supported on the cassette holder. In order to ensure that the shutter is opened and closed reliably the actuating member of the actuating device and the shutter of the cassette should cooperate with one another within narrow positional tolerances. However, in the known apparatus the position of the actuating member of the actuating device and the shutter of the cassette relative to one another depends on several parameters, viz. in the first place the position of the cassette in the cassette holder, i.e. on the positioning elements supporting the cassette, in the second place the dimensions of the cassette inserted into the cassette holder, and in the third place the position of the actuating member in relation to the cassette holder. It may then occur, for example, that a cassette does not lie snugly on the cassette holder or on the positioning elements, that a cassette dimension which is essential for opening and closing the cassette shutter deviates distinctly from a specified nominal value, and that the actuating member of the actuating device is situated comparatively tar from a nominal position. In the event of an unfavourable coincidence of these situations, i.e. the event of an unfavourable combination of the tolerance-dependent parameters which govern a reliable opening and closure of the shutter, it may occur that the actuating member of the actuating device falls to cooperate with the cassette shutter, for example, when this shutter is to be opened. Thus, in the case of unfavourable tolerance conditions the known apparatus does not provide a correct actuation of the shutter of a cassette.